SYL OJE

Writer. Editor. Public Relations Consultant. Lover of God and Family.

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "Mental health deserves particular attention here, and I say this as someone who has watched too many Nigerians treat psychological wellbeing as a luxury. The uncertainty of an election period can genuinely trigger anxiety. Nothing is weak or foreign about acknowledging that. If you notice yourself unable to sleep, constantly irritable or gripped by dread whenever you open your phone, that is your body telling you something important. Talk to someone. Reduce your exposure to inflammatory content. Reconnect with the things that stabilise you. This can be your faith, your family, your football viewing centre banter, or simply switching off the television and reading a novel."

https://t.co/tEwvhW078S

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "There is a sound that every Nigerian child grows up knowing before they even understand what electricity is. It comes at dusk, sometimes earlier, sometimes much later. It does not ask permission. Somewhere on the street, a generator coughs twice, sputters, then settles into that steady growl. That growl becomes the background music of the evening. Within minutes, three more join in from different compounds. Each one sounds at a slightly different pitch. What you have is a kind of orchestra nobody auditioned for. I grew up with this. Most of us did. For a long time, I thought of it the way many people still do, as simply the price of light. There is a power interruption, a generator provides light, and the noise is just what comes with it. It is like the smell of fried plantain from the roadside or the horn of a danfo bus; it is just part of the scenery. However, I work in health communication, and after years in this field, I have come to see that this noise is not just an inconvenience we tolerate with a shrug. It is quietly affecting our bodies and minds in ways most of us have never stopped to interrogate."

https://t.co/C8dipL46IQ

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "The reasons for leaving are well-documented. Poor working conditions, low salaries, and political instability are the key push factors, while better pay and career prospects draw health workers to richer countries. Entry-level doctors in state hospitals have for years earned as little as 150,000 naira a month, a figure that shrank further after the naira collapsed following currency reforms in 2023. Beyond pay, there is the daily indignity of erratic power, expired consumables, equipment that has not been serviced in years, and, for many, genuine personal safety concerns. The decision to leave is not impulsive. It is the conclusion of years of accumulated disappointment."

https://t.co/tPwJtDut80

[SYL OJE @syloje]

@BrendaEbyslady @thecableng Abeg no vex. I'm sure it will be better next time.

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "Few foods have sparked as much debate as the egg. It sits in nearly every kitchen in the world, cheap and versatile, yet it has spent decades on trial. One generation was told to eat it every morning for strength. The next was warned that it would clog their arteries and shorten their lives. Health advice on eggs has swung back and forth so often that it is fair to ask whether anyone knows the answer or whether we are all just repeating what we heard last. The story started in the 1970s and 1980s, when cholesterol became public enemy number one in Western medicine. Eggs were an easy target because a single yolk carries a fair amount of dietary cholesterol, around 186 milligrams. Health authorities in the United States and Britain advised people to reduce their egg consumption. As a result, the consumption of eggs fell sharply. Cardiologists then believed, reasonably given what was known, that eating cholesterol raised blood cholesterol fairly directly and raised the risk of heart disease."

https://t.co/LH4lPfY6Bi

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "It happens to many of us. You finish a solid lunch – maybe pounded yam with your favourite soup, or rice with plantain and chicken. Between the last bite and the next task, a heavy fog rolls in. Your eyelids droop. Even concentrating on a report, picking up the children from school, or sending a text feels Herculean. This is postprandial somnolence, often referred to as food coma. And you are not alone in battling the urge to nap on the sofa or at your desk. Surveys from around the world suggest that well over 50% of all adults regularly experience noticeable sleepiness after meals. In Nigeria, simply look around any office after 2 pm on a regular workday. You will see heads nodding during meetings, and the quiet hum of air conditioners becomes a lullaby. The sheer number of people who suffer from this makes it feel like a normal part of life, just something we have to endure. That is, however, only half true."

https://t.co/yQeOldzJFL

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "A kind of exhaustion sometimes shows up that has nothing to do with physical labour. It settles quietly in the body: a tightness behind the breastbone, a reluctance to sleep too deeply, and a habit of checking the door twice, then three times. This is the exhaustion of people who live inside ongoing threats, real or anticipated. It is one of the most poorly understood public health burdens of our time." https://t.co/VcjpdhSMBx

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "There is a moment in difficult deliveries when a doctor stops explaining and begins to move into action. Not because the patient has agreed, but because time has run out and the choice that was once a conversation is now an emergency. In Nigeria, far too often, that moment comes after a delay that should never have happened."
https://t.co/ErjYG6T5Hu

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "There is a particular kind of complacency that sets in when a disaster is happening somewhere else. We watch it on the news, we feel something, and then we move on. However, we simply cannot afford to look away from the Ebola outbreak, which appears to be gathering momentum in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In May 2026, an Ebola epidemic was confirmed in the Ituri Province of that Central African country. It is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in the DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976, and it came only five months after the previous outbreak ended. The strain responsible is the Bundibugyo ebolavirus. It is rarer than the Zaire strain most people associate with the disease and, in some ways, more complicated to fight. As of 31 May, the DRC Ministry of Health reported 282 confirmed cases and 42 confirmed deaths, with a further 220 suspected cases still under investigation. Uganda had confirmed nine cases and one death; at least three of them were linked to travel from the DRC. The numbers are increasing, and experts are emphatic that official figures in the middle of an active outbreak almost always undercount reality."

https://t.co/eexUvO7Idd

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "I recently sat across from a man in a busy Lagos clinic. He is in his forties, a dedicated sportsperson, and someone who treats his body like a temple. When he started seeing blood in his stool, he figured it was just internal heat or perhaps a stubborn case of piles. He waited six months, hoping that more water and less spice would solve the problem. By the time he saw a specialist, the conversation was no longer about simple dietary adjustments; it was about survival.
The story of this man is not a rarity in our current climate; it is becoming the new narrative for many young professionals across the country. We are talking about colorectal cancer, a term that sounds clinical and distant until it moves too close. Simply put, this is cancer that starts in the colon, which is the main part of the large intestine, or the rectum. It often starts as small, non-cancerous clumps of cells called polyps. One should think of these polyps as uninvited guests that, if left long enough, decide to take over the entire house."

https://t.co/WNGQZ185H6

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "I have done this long enough to know that most people do not set out to poison themselves. You wake up with a headache, malaria creeping in, or a child whose fever will not subside. You go to the nearest chemist shop or the cheerful man by the bus stop with a multitude of drugs on display. You ask for something strong. You pay less than you would at the big pharmacy. You go home, swallow the pill or give it to the child to swallow, and wait for relief. That relief, for too many Nigerians, never comes. Or worse, something deadly shows up."
https://t.co/wwarkreDX8

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "In Nigeria, this crisis hits a different key entirely. I have seen the impact of the resource curse first-hand through oil spills in the Niger Delta, poisoning water tables, and the open burning of refuse in urban centres. When we talk about sustainability in a Nigerian context, we are not just talking about carbon footprints; we are talking about basic survival. The lack of sustainable waste management means that heavy metals leak into the soil where the food we eat grows, and soot from generators and illegal refineries settles deep in the bronchioles of toddlers. When sustainability fails, our biology pays the price."

https://t.co/yy6SVsDWAm

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "There is a particular morning that tends to arrive without warning. You get out of bed, and the body that has been your faithful servant for decades suddenly feels like a house with a new owner. For a split second, you wonder who this new person is. Then you realise it is you. It is just that it is an updated version. For the men reading this, and for the women who love them, who watch these changes from the other side of the bed and wonder what is going on behind those sometimes bewildered eyes, let us talk about that morning. This is because the physical changes of ageing are not a crisis. So, it is essential to understand these subtle hints."
https://t.co/g4yUrUhdFC

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "The economic reality of the twenty-first century has turned the three-square-meal standard into a luxury. This standard has, therefore, become a source of immense psychological pressure, where parents who can only provide two meals feel as though they are failing a fundamental societal test. This pressure is compounded by the globalised image of abundance that flickers on our screens, suggesting that anything less than breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a sign of personal or national failure. We find ourselves in a strange paradox where we strive for a three-meal structure that our ancestors never needed, yet we feel impoverished when we cannot maintain it in the face of skyrocketing inflation."

https://t.co/KufGNLsUKo

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "Every year, as the dry season settles over our towns and villages, a familiar but deadly unwanted visitor resurfaces in our communities. I recently chanced upon a healthcare worker in my home state who described the exhaustion of watching families arrive at the hospital doors, cradling loved ones who they thought simply had a stubborn bout of malaria. Often, the virus had already started its destructive work by the time a laboratory test revealed the truth. This is the reality of Lassa fever, an acute viral haemorrhagic illness that has become an unfortunate seasonal disease in our part of the world. It is named after the town in Borno state where it was first identified in 1969, but its reach has since extended far beyond that single point, turning into a persistent public health challenge that demands more than just government intervention. It demands a fundamental change in how we live our daily lives and manage our environments."

https://t.co/5AwLOkpcZI

[TheCable @thecableng]

SYLVESTER OJENAGBON: "Substance use disorder is a universal, complex health condition that manifests as the uncontrollable consumption of alcohol or other drugs despite the severe, harmful consequences. It is a chronic, relapsing brain disease, not a moral deficiency, that hijacks the brain’s systems governing reward and motivation and creates powerful, intense urges, or cravings, that make stoppage extremely difficult. The indisputable reality worldwide is that men are far more likely than women to engage in the use of almost all types of psychoactive substances and, consequently, to experience dependence and the resulting harmful health outcomes. General epidemiological data consistently indicate a significantly higher prevalence of substance use disorders for men, particularly concerning alcohol and illicit drugs."

https://t.co/FzVp2JRl2S

[TheCable @thecableng]

"Now, baldness is not a single disease; it is an outcome with several distinct causes, and understanding the “why” is the first step towards intervention. By far the most frequent cause, accounting for around 95% of hair loss in men, is the genetic dictator: androgenetic alopecia. This hereditary condition involves a specific hormone derivative, dihydrotestosterone (DHT). Testosterone, the primary male sex hormone, is converted into DHT by an enzyme called 5-α-reductase. For those genetically predisposed, DHT shrinks the hair follicles, a process called miniaturisation, until hair growth stops entirely. This is why it is referred to as “pattern” baldness—it follows a predictable pattern of receding temples and/or thinning crown." — SYLVESTER OJENAGBON

https://t.co/Tb2eYofloa

[TheCable @thecableng]

"Furthermore, we must consider the role of modern medicine. Procedures like bone marrow transplants can rewrite a person’s genetic signature in their blood. If a man has received a transplant, his blood will carry the DNA of his donor. A test taken from a blood sample would suggest he is not the parent of his own biological children, whereas a swab from his cheek might say otherwise. In these cases, the truth is hidden beneath layers of medical intervention that a standard test is not designed to see. It requires a specialist, a genetic counsellor, and a laboratory willing to look beyond the surface." — SYLVESTER OJENAGBON

https://t.co/CwKVg5VRsR

[TheCable @thecableng]

"In the age of social media, where every meal is a performance, and every comfort is a luxury, it is easy to fall into the trap of confusing a full, distended stomach with a mark of satiety or good living. We see the satisfied sigh after a heavy meal and somehow equate that tightness around the middle with a deserved indulgence. Yet, for millions around the world, that feeling is not one of pleasant fullness; it is a profoundly uncomfortable and often painful condition known as bloating, and it is, unarguably, not a badge of honour." — SYLVESTER OJENAGBON

https://t.co/q9pg8USyz8

[TheCable @thecableng]

"The truth is that integrating robust health goals into our general new year goals is not about vanity or fitting into an old outfit; it is an essential act of self-preservation. A strong, energetic body and a clear, resilient mind are the engine that will power every other goal you set. Without this vital foundation, your best-laid plans for professional success or enriching relationships will unfortunately be compromised by general unwellness, fatigue, or stress." — SYLVESTER OJENAGBON
https://t.co/nDHY7pSSL7